Directions : Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow…
2019
Directions : Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct/most appropriate options :
There’s an air of excitement on the platform as the train’s departure time draws close. You’ve found your name on the passenger’s list, together with the names of those in the compartment with you; so you already know your ‘fellow passengers’ names, ages, sex and destination. People are pushing past you to get on, as you show your coupon to the conductor and he tells you to board.
Your fellow passengers are settling in, staking out their claims to territory with too much luggage. A bell clangs but there is no slamming of carriage doors, no blowing of whistles and no shout of “All aboard !” as in the states. The train simply draws out of the station while people stroll alongside and with studied nonchalance, clamber on, one after the other through the still-open doors.
You claim your own seat, pleased to be on the move. Since you have a long journey ahead in the company of strangers, what happens next will govern your enjoyment of the trip. You can start up a conversation and make friends, allies quickly, or be anti-social and lonely for the whole of the journey. Of course, it depends on your personality but if you are travelling alone you’ll need an ally, someone you feel you can trust to watch your luggage when you go to the washroom. You can’t isolate yourself completely on a train so if that’s your style, train travel isn’t for you.
I get a thrill out of the start of every train journey. It’s not just the excitement of moving on to a new place, there’s the anticipation of what’s going to happen during the journey; the pleasure at the new acquaintances I’m going to make; the dissolving of city skyline into lush, rural landscape beyond the windows; and the heightened emotions of everyone on board. Indians love to travel by train; they are used to it and prepare properly so it becomes a picnic on wheels. I get excited when I am part of it, you will too.
Even after the train has started moving why do some people stroll alongside?
- A.
They reached the platform late.
- B.
They want to enjoy the outside scene.
- C.
They enjoy getting into a moving train.
- D.
The doors are still open.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
In a reading-comprehension question that asks ‘why’ about an action described in the passage, the correct option is the reason stated explicitly in the passage itself, not a motive inferred from general knowledge or borrowed from an unrelated part of the text. This question type rewards accurate location and reading of the relevant line, not speculation.
The second paragraph of the passage describes the train pulling away: people stroll alongside and, with studied nonchalance, clamber on “through the still-open doors” even as the train is already moving. This line gives the reason directly — the carriage doors have not yet been shut, so passengers can still walk beside the train and board it after it has started.
“They reached the platform late.” fits nowhere in the passage: the departure itself is shown as calm and orderly — no slamming of carriage doors, no blowing of whistles, and no shout of “All aboard” — which gives no indication that anyone arrived late.
“They want to enjoy the outside scene.” describes a different moment in the passage — the traveller’s own delight, once already seated, in watching the city skyline dissolve into rural landscape during the journey — not the reason people beside the departing train continue to walk alongside it.
“They enjoy getting into a moving train.” attributes an emotion to the passengers that the passage never states; the text only records the practical fact that let them board casually, not a personal preference for a moving train.
Since the still-open doors are the reason directly given in the text, that is the correct response.